Duo for a job

Association: DUO for a JOB

Supported Project: DUO for a JOB

Objective: To help eliminate inequalities in access to the job market for young people from diverse backgrounds, to value the knowledge of our elders, and to combat discrimination by rebuilding social connections, understanding, and local solidarity.

Principle: To identify and train seniors through intergenerational mentoring / to share their experience to support young people in their journey to employment.

Supported Project: Implemented with our foundation in February and October 2023 and June 2025.

DUO for a JOB organizes intergenerational and intercultural mentoring to facilitate the employment of younger people while valuing the experience of those over 50. This is a relationship in which an experienced person, the “mentor,” shares their knowledge and experience with a young person, the “mentee,” to foster the development of their skills and autonomy, and to enable them to identify and achieve their professional goals. This relationship (“duo”) is based on exchange, learning, and ongoing, reciprocal trust.

Once paired, the young person and their mentor meet for two hours a week for six months.

This connection allows young people to regain self-confidence, move towards employment or training, and allows mentors to share their experience while rediscovering the social value of their own journey.

DUO for a JOB therefore addresses two major societal challenges:

• combating inequalities in access to employment, which particularly affect young people from recent immigrant backgrounds, who often face multiple obstacles (language barriers, lack of networks, discrimination);

  
  

• To value the role of seniors, whose expertise and skills remain essential, and who find in mentoring a rewarding, useful, and meaningful mission.

In 2025, the program will expand to the Hauts-de-France region with the goal of training 90 new mentors. Thanks to this commitment, nearly 190 young people will benefit from personalized support this year, thus fostering intergenerational solidarity and social cohesion.